عربي

EU Asks Assad to Step Down And His Mercenaries Are Dumping Corpses in The Sea 

Digital billboard in a demonstration in Idlib: "Pro-Assad demonstrators were forced to go out"

Today’s Top Stories

• The European Union Foreign Ministers called on Assad to step down.

• Lebanese MP declared that the Syrian Embassy in Beirut has been involved in the kidnapping of Syrian dissidents from Lebanon and a Syrian-American was charged with spying on protesters in America for the Syrian Intelligence agency.

• Assad regime is dumping victims they kill in the Mediterranean sea. 

Today’s Top Videos

• Assad’s forces kill a man and a 9 months old baby girl while shelling their home in Der Balba, Homs

• A Colonel in the Syrian Air Force declares his defection

• Sounds of Machinegun fire and artillery shelling civilians in Der Balba, Homs

Support for SNC on the Ground

• Qarra, Damascus Suburb: Student demonstrators send their gratitude to the free government of Libya for recognizing the SNC

• Taybet Al-Imam, Hama: A little child holds a sign confirming the SNC as her legitimate representative and not Assad

• Qadam, Damascus: Demonstrators take to the streets in support of the SNC and in condemnation of Assad’s support rally

Today’s Summary of Events

Foreign Ministers of the European Union called upon Assad to step down after the conclusion of their meeting in Luxemburg. They said Assad must step down to allow power transfer, and added that Assad’s security crackdown on demonstrators might reach the levels of crimes against humanity. The EU Foreign Ministers also welcomed the formation of the Syrian National Council (SNC) a day after the Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem warned nations worldwide of the repercussions of recognizing the SNC. The Foreign Ministers further went on to express their disappointment of the UNSC’s failure to issue a resolution condemning the Assad regime’s atrocities, and are in deliberations for a new round of sanctions against Assad regime figures.
 
More data concerning the Syrian Embassies’ involvement in targeting Syrian dissidents have surfaced, as Lebanese MP Sami al-Jamil declared that the Syrian Embassy in Beirut has been involved in the kidnapping of Syrian dissidents from Lebanon, where Shibli al-Aysami and three brothers of the Jasem family have been kidnapped from Eastern Beirut by Assad’s security forces. The Mikati-led government, formed with a majority of Hezbollah’s coalition, had been supporting the Assad regime regularly despite violations against Lebanon’s sovereignty. The violations were repeated again today when a Syrian army unit broke into Lebanese territories by crossing the Wadi Anjar barricade. Furthermore, Amnesty International published a report earlier this month condemning the Assad regime’s intimidation and targeting of Syrian dissidents abroad. The most recent incident to be reported involved a Syrian American in the state of Virginia in the US, who was charged by the District Attorney –in cooperation with the FBI— for acting as an unregistered agent of Syrian government and spying on Syrian protestors in America. Muhammad Anas Haitham Suwaid was accused of spying on dissidents for the Syrian Intelligence through the Syrian Embassy for the purpose of targeting their families in Syria.
 
In the meantime, the Assad regime gathered thousands in a demonstration downtown Damascus to chant support for itself and to denounce the SNC. The regime has imposed participation on public employees and on many private sector employees, such as those working for Syria’s biggest GSM provider, Syriatel. Anti-Assad demonstrations responded by protesting in Qadam and Kafarsouseh in Damascus, Irbeen, Tal, Zamalka, Kafarbatna, Douma, and Saqba in Damascus suburbs, Ibdeeta, Jabl Zawiya, Sermin, and Saraqeb in Idlib, Teebat al-Imam, Latamna, and Hama central in Hama, the towns of Mare and Izaz, and the suburbs of Sabil, Marraija, and new Aleppo in Aleppo, Deir Azzour, Quriya and Boukamal, Soura, Ihsem, and Deraa central, where soldiers defected to defend demonstrators from security forces. Security forces have also invaded the villages of Qureen, Kafarnajd, Badriya, and Falyon in Jabal Zawiya in Idlib.
 
In Homs, checkpoints and military bases for security forces and Assad militias randomly opened fire in residential areas of Qosur, Bab Sbaa, Bab Draib, Hai Ashira, Nazhin, Baba Amr, Joorat Arayes, the besieged neighbourhoods of Khaldiya, Bayada, and Deir Baalba, and the besieged towns of Talbisa and Rastan. Electricity and all forms of communication are still cut off. Security crackdown operations are still on-going in the neighbourhoods of Deir Baalba, Bayada, Khaldiya, and Qosur, which include murder, arbitrary arrests, theft, sabotage, house-to-house searches, and torching of homes. Warplanes still fly low over Homs and its suburbs to scare its residents. Nonetheless, demonstrators still manage to take to the streets in the neighbourhoods of Jorat Shayah, Qarabis, Deir Baalba, Bab Sbaa, Hamra, Ghouta, Inshaat, Baba Amr, Jab Jandali, Jorat Arayes, Shammas, Karm Zaytoun, Nazhin, and Waar, as well as the towns of Palmyra, Houleh and Qasir.
 
The creativity of the residents of Homs remains unabated as for the first time ever, a demonstration went out on motorcycles and circled the city quickly before security forces had enough time to react.
 
In Hama, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) attacked the Jesr Mezareb road block, and security patrols in the Sabuniya and Qosur, inflicting heavy damages in the ranks of Assad’s militiamen. Recently though, the regime had been manning the checkpoints with army conscripts instead of Assad militiamen as it knows the FSA will not target the army, and because Assad’s mercenaries are not ready for confrontations and death.
 
On another note, with the discovery of mass graves in Homs, Daraa, Damascus, and Hama, Assad’s henchmen started hiding the corpses of the fallen in a new way, as it started transferring the bodies to the port of Lattakia to be shipped to the Mediterranean and sunk in large heavy containers.